


Breathe Me

by setos_puppy



Category: Misfits
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Prompt Fill, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, old fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 23:17:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6631162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/setos_puppy/pseuds/setos_puppy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Simon and Nathan, as it turns out, have a history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breathe Me

**Author's Note:**

> More of my old fic migration and achiving here on A03. 
> 
> Originally written for misfitskink for [this prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/misfitskink/790.html?thread=175126) which basically asked for Simon and Nathan meeting as children; Nathan needing a bone marrow transplant and Simon being his match and them finding out later.

Love to faults is always blind,

Always is to joys inclined,

Lawless, winged, and unconfined,

And breaks all chains from every mind

\- William Blake 

 

Nathan opened his eyes and blinked against the light streamed into the room, his whole body was aching in a way that made him think that today might be a difficult day. He would get through it, though. He always did. He groaned a little as he pushed himself up in his bed and looked around; no nurses were around, and his room was devoid of his parents - they probably had to go to work. Besides, he was eleven, he was big enough to be let alone and take care of himself. It wasn’t like he could get into much mischief in a hospital anyway.

 

 

Or so they thought.

 

 

Throwing off the covers, Nathan pushed out of his bed and winced a little as he stood from the bed, the pain was a little bit more than what he was used to in the morning, but Doctor Robbins said it was going to happen. It happened last time he came in when he collapsed in the loo in the restaurant. Sliding on his slippers and his dressing gown, Nathan headed towards the door of his room to peek his head out in the hall and see where the trolley for food was. He was hungry.

 

 

Nowhere in sight.

 

 

_Sigh_.

 

 

He would just have to steal from the Nurses’ station.

 

 

He crept around the corner, back to the wall, on a mission for jelly and other good sweets, and even the thrumming pain in the base of his spine wouldn’t stop him. He slipped into the small kitchen stocked with a large refrigerator, sinks and cupboards. He pulled open the door of the refrigerator and smiled in victory - jellies! All kinds. He snatched out a cup filled with lovely green jelly and watched as it wiggled about before he found a spoon and tucked in.

 

 

“Do they have any purple?”

 

 

Nathan turned a little too quickly and braced a hand against the cupboards as the room spun. He peered over at the figure of another boy, dressed in a pair of pyjama trousers and a t-shirt, his feet covered with socks that had silly faces all over them. “What?”

 

 

“Purple. Do they have any?”

 

 

“Er...” Nathan glanced back into the magical-box-of-goodness and nodded, pulling out a cup of purple jelly and handed it to the other boy along with a spoon. “Green’s the best colour.”

 

 

“I like purple.”

 

 

Nathan eyed the other boy over his spoonful of jelly. “It’s alright.” He slurped up his spoonful and offered his hand. “I’m Nathan.”

 

 

The boy smiled and ate a spoonful of his own jelly before taking Nathan’s hand. “I’m Simon.”

 

 

They finished their sweets in silence before Nathan put the cups in the sink and they emerged from the secret trove together. It was nice to talk to someone, Nathan had spent too long alone, or with his parents. Someone his own age was nice.

 

 

“So, what’ve you got?” Nathan asked, whispering as he ducked close to Simon as they headed to the play area.

 

 

“Pneumonia.” Simon stumbled over the word, his nose scrunching up a little. “I got here three days ago. What about you?”

 

 

“It’s called leukemia.”

 

 

“What’s that?”

 

 

Nathan flopped onto the plush sofa, turning on the telly and looking for something good to watch. “It means...” He paused to think, scrolling through channels as Simon climbed up next to him. “It means my blood is sick.”

 

 

“Oh.” Simon looked at Nathan, looked him up and down. “Can they make your blood not sick?”

 

 

“‘Course they can! Doctors can do anything!” Nathan replied, looking at Simon as if the question was absurd.

 

 

“Well... how?”

 

 

“They did this thing for a while where they hooked me up to a special chair and put this stuff in my body. It made my hair go away, but now it’s back! Then they tried some other stuff. Now they’re going to do some other stuff. They think this time they’re gonna fix it. So, I’m excited. I want to go back to school, do you go to school?”

 

 

“Yeah. Maths is hard this year.” Simon replied, frowning.

 

 

“I don’t like Maths. I like English.”

 

 

“English is good. I like the books.”

 

 

They watched a cartoon in silence, Nathan pressed against Simon, tiredness creeping up on him, he slowly fell asleep, listening to Simon’s wheezy breath.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Simon woke up on the sofa a while later to the sound of the nurse he knew as Jenny’s voice. She sounded upset and he opened his eyes to find Nathan hunched over in her arms clutched to a waste paper bin and shaking. There was a doctor rushing into the room and before Nathan could answer the sudden barrage of questions he was sick into the bin.

 

 

“What’s wrong?” Simon asked, worry bubbling up inside him.

 

 

Jenny looked over at him, a small smile on her face as she rubbed circles in Nathan’s back. “Nathan’s medicine is just making him a little sick, that’s all.”

 

 

Simon frowned. “Medicine is supposed to make you better!”

 

 

“Sometimes, with something like what Nathan has, there’s something called a side-effect. Sometimes the medicine makes you feel really ill while it makes you better.”

 

 

Simon didn’t like the sound of that. Nathan straightened in Jenny’s arms and took a glass of water from the doctor, rinsing his mouth and spitting it into the bin before nodding to something the doctor was saying. Simon watched as Nathan struggled to his feet before sliding off the sofa and helping Nathan up, his arm moving supportively around Nathan’s side.

 

 

“Simon,” the doctor Simon didn’t recognize, he had white hair and a nice smile. “Can you help me help Nathan to his room?”

 

 

They headed back to Nathan’s room and Simon climbed onto the bed next to Nathan, watching as he took a bunch of different coloured pills with a swallow of orange juice. Nathan sighed and laid against his pillows, smiling at Simon. “See, they made it better.”

 

 

Simon hedged, unsure, but returned the smile and looked to the doctor. “Can I stay?”

 

 

The doctor wrote a bunch of things on his paper. “Until Nathan’s parents come. I’ll tell Jenny to let your parents know where you are.”

 

 

Simon nodded and looked back to Nathan, who was timidly poking his spoon at some soup. “Are you not hungry?”

 

 

Nathan sighed softly, dropping the spoon into the bowl. “I don’t think I can even lift the spoon right now.”

 

 

Simon slid forward on his knees, adjusting the table and making himself comfortable beside Nathan and balanced the bowl on his knees before lifting a spoonful to Nathan’s lips and watched him eat with a smile.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Two hours later, a quick nap, and several rounds of snap later Nathan’s parents arrived, just as Simon was saying hello and introducing himself, his mum and dad showed up too. He watched as his mum and dad introduced themselves to Nathan’s mum. They excused themselves out to the hall while Simon and Nathan continued to play cards.

 

 

“So, what does your boy have?” Susan Bellamy asked.

 

 

“Acute lymphoblastic leukemia.” Helen Young replied, peering back in the room. “The doctors have been fighting with it for over a year. We thought we had it about four months ago. Then Nathan collapsed and we found out it re-emerged. They’re going through stronger doses of medication now, but they’re searching for a donor for bone marrow. My husband and I were both tested, but unfortunately we aren’t a match. They’ve been searching throughout the database, but so far, no luck. Nathan’s pretty optimistic, I don’t think he really knows he could die from it. He just keeps talking about the future.”

 

 

Susan smiled softly, sadly, and laid her hand on Helen’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. Well, for what it’s worth, I hope my boy makes yours happy.”

 

 

Helen smiled and looked back in the room as she heard Nathan laughing, happy and carefree. “Me too. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Nathan and I need to go for his lumbar puncture.”

 

 

Susan nodded and they ducked back into the room. The mothers watched as the boys hugged each other tight and then waved goodbye to one another before their mothers ushered them in separate directions.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Four days later Nathan found Simon playing with a young girl in the playroom. They were playing with blocks and the little girl was humming and singing to herself while Simon worked on a building masterpiece.

 

 

“Lookin’ good.”

 

 

“Nathan!” Simon was off the ground and sprinting to his friend in seconds, even if the movements made his breathing uneven. “How’re you feeling. Jenny said you were getting some new medicine.”

 

 

“Yup. It made me ill for a bit, and really sleepy. But today I was allowed to walk around.”

 

 

“That’s great. I snuck some green jelly into my room for you. If you want to come.”

 

 

“You had me at green jelly.”

 

 

They exited the playroom, taking it slow since Nathan was still unsteady on his feet. They passed a few friendly nurses on the floor, who smiled and waved, and a few of the other children on the floor that Nathan knew.

 

 

Finally they reached Simon’s room and Simon helped Nathan into the bed, before climbing on himself. Nathan smiled widely at the sight of the green jelly and wrapped his arms around Simon’s neck and pressed a wet kiss on his cheek, ignoring the quiet “eugh” from Simon who wiped it off with the back of his hand.

 

 

“I don’t want your cooties.”

 

 

“Only girls have cooties.” Nathan reminded, slurping on his spoon.

 

 

Simon shrugged and slurped up his jelly before moving on to the custard that was sitting on the tray. “So, are you going to be able to go home soon? My mum says I can go home next week!”

 

 

“You’re leaving next week?”

 

 

Simon looked over at Nathan’s quiet voice and at his trembling chin. He threw his arms around Nathan, holding him tight. “I’ll come and visit you every day and tell you all about school.”

 

 

“Do you promise?”

 

 

Simon watched as Nathan lifted his his hand to his mouth and licked his palm before holding it out in offering to Simon. Simon eyed Nathan’s hand before licking his own palm and pressing it against Nathan’s with a squish. “I promise.”

 

 

Nathan wiped his hands off on his pyjama trousers before curling against Simon, his head pressed to Simon’s chest, listening to the steady rhythm of Simon’s heart beat. He looked at the happy balloons and flowers on Simon’s windowsill that his room lacked. His room was stark white and smelled funny; Simon’s was warm and colourful and smelled like candyfloss. Nathan watched the birds fly outside the window and closed his eyes, thinking of freedom.

 

 

~*~

 

 

“It’s nice to see you, Mrs. Young, how are you?”

 

 

Helen Young eased herself into a chair across from Doctor Robbins’ desk, gratefully taking the offered cup of tea. “Oh, as well as can be, I suppose.”

 

 

“I’m glad to hear that. Nathan is doing well too, it seems, he’s made a new friend.”

 

 

Helen smiled around the rim of the china. “Yes, Simon Bellamy, lovely little boy. His mother said he’s going to be leaving next week, though. I’m sure the separation will be hard on Nathan.”

 

 

“Actually, Mrs. Young, that’s one of the reasons I brought you in here today.” Doctor Robbins folded his hands on his desk before picking up a file and tapping his fingers on the pages as he looked down at the contents. “We’ve found a donor match to Nathan.”

 

 

Helen dropped the cup. It shattered on the floor, sending scalding tea up her leg, but she barely even noticed. “You have? Who?”

 

 

Doctor Robbins lifted the file folder and turned it so Helen would be able to read it before setting it on the desk before her eyes. “Simon Bellamy.”

 

 

Helen’s brow raised in shock, but her smile was genuine when she looked back to Doctor Robbins’ face. “Do it.”

 

 

~*~

 

Nathan stretched out his arms over his head, groaning a little as his shoulders gave painfully delicious pops. They had a long week; most if had been spent with him mooning over Simon, which his brain had clearly decided was a good thing, considering every two minutes his gaze would wander back to where Simon was pulling his clothing from his locker, still dressed in his orange jumpsuit.

 

 

Simon tossed a look over his shoulder and Nathan nodded in Kelly’s direction, she was standing in front of the mirror by him, brushing her hair back. She turned her head towards him and smiled a little, hip checking him lightly, in the friendly, playful way they had. They had established last night that they were just friends, and Nathan was cool with it; he didn’t want to lose Kelly.

 

 

“‘m goin’ ‘ome, ya?” Kelly said as she picked up her bag.

 

 

Nathan waved as she walked off, his arms folding behind his head as he turned and leaned against the mirror. Simon’s back was to him, and he was applying deodorant, making his muscles stretch in a way that made Nathan’s brain confused. He was already dressed in his civilian pants; Nathan watched as Simon reached into his locker to put the deodorant back and his brows furrowed at the sight of a long, reddish scar on Simon’s spine towards the waistline of his trousers.

 

 

That was strange.

 

 

He had one of those - from when he had gotten his bone marrow transplant when he was younger - it was the only scar that still lingered after his continued regenerations. Well that one and the weird bobbledy scar on his foot from stepping through a nail when he was fourteen.

 

 

But still...

 

 

Why would Simon have one?

 

 

~*~

 

 

“Mum! It’s Nathan, open the door!”

 

 

Helen Young opened the door to her home and peered out at her son, frowning. “What is it, Nathan?”

 

 

“D’you have pictures of me from when I was in the hospital?”

 

 

Helen’s brows knitted together in confusion. “What?”

 

 

“I remember you taking pictures, mum. Do you still have them?”

 

 

Helen sighed and abandoned her post at the door, leaving it open. Nathan made a face at her retreating back before stepping inside the front hall and then into the kitchen. He listened to her rummaging through a cupboard and took the opportunity to poke through the fridge for something to eat. He pulled out a sandwich and peeled off the tomatoes, before taking a huge bite and dropped into a chair at the narrow table after grabbing an iced tea.

 

 

Helen walked into the kitchen just as Nathan was pushing the final corner of the sandwich into his mouth and shook her head at him. “When was the last time you had a proper meal?”

 

 

“Dunno. How long has it been since you kicked me out?”

 

 

“Don’t make me into the bad guy, Nathan.”

 

 

“Look, d’you have the pictures or not?”

 

 

Helen sighed and held out the album. Nathan wiped the table down with his sleeve and opened the album. He flipped through the pages, frowning at the pages of him after and during chemotherapy; he looked so sickly and his fabulous hair was missing. He stopped on a page, and sat back in his chair, his fingers running round the edge of a photo. It was a picture of him and another boy, their arms wrapped around each other, cheeks pressed together and smiling happily.

 

 

The boy who had saved his life.

 

 

Who had given him a piece of himself.

 

 

“Simon...”

 

 

“Yes, that’s right. Lovely boy, he moved away three months after you were both discharged. I remember you were so heartbroken.”

 

 

Nathan slammed the photo album shut and ran from the room with it tucked under his arm before his mother could even say another word.

 

 

~*~

 

 

“Coming!” Simon’s voice was muffled through the door, which opened moments later. “Nathan?” Without being asked, Nathan pushed his way inside, leaving Simon staring after him. Nathan turned as Simon closed the door and he carefully placed the album aside and crowded against Simon, who instantly rose his defenses. “What are you doing? Nathan!”

 

 

“Take off your shirt.”

 

 

“What?! I’m not --”

 

 

“Relax, you twat. I don’t want to fuck you. I want to see that scar on your back.”

 

 

“What scar?”

 

 

“I saw it the other day when you were changing.” Nathan said offhandedly, knowing if he said he had seen it earlier Simon would only act more suspicious. “Look, can I just see it?”

 

 

Simon eyed Nathan for a long moment before pushing Nathan from him and brushing past him into the living room. Nathan followed, grabbing the album up as he did so. Simon shifted nervously. “You’re not still tattooed, are you?”

 

 

“Look, stop being a cunt and just show me.”

 

 

The phrase seemed to appease Simon and he unbuttoned his shirt, carefully folding it before laying it on the coffee table and turned, showing his back to Nathan. Nathan set the album next to Simon’s shirt as he approached the other and crouched down a little as he examined the scar. It was about two inches across and several inches long, extending below the waist of Simon’s trousers.

 

 

It was almost a perfect match to Nathan’s.

 

 

“Can I put my shirt back on now?”

 

 

“Yeah.” Nathan straightened from his crouch and watched as Simon shrugged on his dark shirt and started to button it up and hide his remarkably built chest. “I have something to show you.”

 

 

Simon smoothed his hands down his shirt and nodded absently as he brushed his hand over his fringe. “Alright.”

 

 

Nathan picked up the album and flipped through the pages before turning the album carefully in his hands and presented it to Simon. Simon rose a brow inquisitively before taking the book from Nathan’s hands and peered down at the photos, his mouth parting a little in shock as he eased himself down onto his table.

 

 

“Where did you get these?”

 

 

“My mum.”

 

 

Simon looked up at Nathan wordlessly before looking down at the photos and turned the page, smiling faintly as he stroked over a picture of younger Nathan hugging on a giant plush giraffe that Simon’s mother had given him. The first thing to liven up his room.

 

 

“You were the jelly boy. When we moved away...” Simon shook his head in disbelief. “I always wondered how you were. What you were doing. I never thought...”

 

 

“Why’d you move?”

 

 

“My dad. He got a job out here. I thought about looking for you but as time went on I forgot your name.”

 

 

Nathan sat himself next to Simon, looking down at the photos of the two of them lying side by side after the surgery. “You saved my life. I never forgot your name.”

 

 

Simon hummed quietly in the back of his throat. “Ironic, isn’t it? You’ve known my name all along and you still call me Barry.”

 

 

“I just like fuckin’ with you, man.”

 

 

Simon looked up at Nathan. “D’you want to go for a drink?”

 

 

~*~

 

 

In the end, they opted to buy beer and pick up a pizza and head back to Simon’s; where it was quieter and more personable.

 

 

Nathan made himself comfortable on the couch while Simon changed, and paused on an old, first generation episode of _Skins_ on the telly. Opening up the box, Nathan smiled at the plume of steam that rose off the pizza and picked out a slice, practically drooling at the amount of cheese. He folded it and took a huge bite, smiling happily to himself.

 

 

“Use a plate!” Simon scolded, thrusting one into his hand as he dashed from his bedroom to the kitchen. After grabbing one for himself, Simon loaded it up and chewed on the tip of his slice of pizza.

 

 

“I love Maxxie.” Nathan commented randomly, opening his second bottle of beer and taking a long sip.

 

 

“Really? I thought you would like Effy.”

 

 

“She’s great too, but Maxxie has style, don’t he? He has a whole ‘don’t fuck me attitude’ in his own way. Plus he’s cute.”

 

 

Simon choked on his own beer, covering his mouth as foam spilled over his chin and into his carpet. “What?”

 

 

Nathan rose a shoulder in a shrug. “What? He is. I can’t like blokes too?”

 

 

“No, no. I didn’t say that. I guess... I mean you always talk about girls.”

 

 

“Well, I haven’t been with a guy, have I?” Simon eyed Nathan for a long moment until Nathan sighed. “‘cept you. But we didn’t do anything.”

 

 

“Well, how do you know we wouldn’t have?”

 

 

“Well, you kept running away from me.”

 

 

Simon shrugged his shoulders and took another bite of his pizza and turned his eyes to the TV, thinking to himself. He wouldn’t have been _opposed_ to anything with Nathan; it wasn’t like Nathan was ugly, it was just that Nathan seemed so different. He had always found Nathan attractive, even if he tended to be a jerk.

 

 

Besides, he had known Nathan all those years ago...

 

 

And Nathan had a part of him inside of him.

 

 

Simon flushed and tipped the last of his second beer back, finishing it in a few heavy swallows. He didn’t need to be thinking about that right now. Thinking like that would lead to naughty, wicked thoughts which would lead to possible ridicule. Even if Nathan did like men as much as women, it didn’t mean that Nathan liked him anymore. Without that tattoo.

 

 

“You want another beer?”

 

 

Simon turned to Nathan as he held up a third bottle. He didn’t drink often, but he was pretty good at holding his own. Nodding, Simon took it and set it aside before finishing his slice of pizza in silence.

 

 

“You know, man. I never did thank you for saving my life.” Nathan held up his bottle in toast. “Cheers, man.”

 

 

Simon clinked his bottle against the neck of Nathan’s and took a few long swallows of his own beer before picking out another slice of pizza. “Hey, d’you want to watch anything else?”

 

 

“Do you have _Alien_?

 

 

“Yeah, I have all four movies. Which one do you want to watch?”

 

 

Nathan held up his index finger to show that he wanted to watch the first one before licking some sauce off his finger tip and then smiled up at Simon. Simon nodded his head and gathered the DVD before switching the settings on his TV and popping the DVD in. When that was done, he cleared up the empty pizza box and beer bottles before pulling out a tub of ice cream and two spoons and returning to the couch. Nathan was stretched out, watching the opening, and had turned on is side, his waist and legs covered in a thin blanket. Simon sat opposite him, their toes brushing under the blanket, before he presented a spoon and the tub to Nathan.

 

“Mmm... Wait, I have the perfect thing to go with that.” Nathan lifted his hips off the couch in a surprisingly agile and dexterous move and reached into his back pocket, eyes still on the screen. After about a minute, Nathan pulled something out of his pocket, a lighter and a hand rolled cigarette. “There we are!”

 

 

“I don’t smoke marijuana.” Simon breathed softly, stabbing his spoon into the ice cream.

 

 

“C’mon man! It’s a celebration. It won’t do anything, it isn’t a gateway drug or any of that crap! It’ll just make you feel real good.”

 

 

Simon watched as Nathan placed the joint between his lips and lit it with his zippo. Nathan flips the top shut and inhales quickly to ignite the cigarette before shoving his lighter in his pocket and pulling the joint from his lips as his head lulled back and he exhaled a plume of smoke with a lazy smile. After a moment, Nathan turned his head to Simon and extended his arm, the innocent looking, smoldering cigarette pinched between his thumb and forefinger.

 

 

“Nathan, I...”

 

 

“Just _try_ it.”

 

 

Simon let out a long suffering sigh and slid the joint between his index and middle fingers and drew it to his lips. He took a puff and held the smoke in, feeling the almost languid, delicious partial burn down his throat. After a moment he exhaled and presented it back to Nathan, who was curled on his side, watching him. “What?”

 

 

“You didn’t choke on it.”

 

 

Simon shrugged. He had tried cigarettes once, a while ago, and it was the same basic principle. “It wasn’t bad.”

 

 

“Lookit you, becoming a proper delinquent.” Nathan teased, setting the joint between his lips where it dangled as he took a few, lazy puffs. He took another toke and pulled the joint back, smoke curling lazily from his mouth.

 

 

Simon opened his mouth to say something but Nathan leaned over the couch, his body heavy and warm, pressing Simon back into the arm of the sofa. Nathan’s hand curved over Simon’s cheek and his thumb slid over Simon’s chin before he lightly pressed his mouth to Simon’s and exhaled. Simon gasped, inhaling the smoke before turning his head to the side and exhaling the smoke quickly. He turned back to Nathan, a contented smile on his face before plucking the joint from Nathan’s fingers and setting it aside. His fingers carded their way through Nathan’s hair before he clenched them and pulled Nathan’s mouth to his for a kiss.

 

 

Nathan pulled back reluctantly after a few moments and pressed his forehead to Simon’s, sighing softly. “Been wanting to do that since I met you.”

 

 

“Since you were eleven?”

 

 

Nathan giggled distractedly, humming in the back of his throat. “Twat. You know what I meant.”

 

 

“Yeah.”

 

 

They lay together, tangled, listening to the sounds of Sigourney Weaver screaming on the television and both wondering if they wanted to risk moving for the slowly melting ice cream less than two feet away.

 

 

“So...” Simon muttered into Nathan’s shoulder. “Are you going to kiss me again or not?”

 

 

Nathan pushed up on his elbows, his grin almost screaming debauchery, before he ducked down and pressed his mouth to Simon’s again.

 

 

~*~

 

 

When they woke the next morning, sprawled out on Simon’s pull-out sofa, some overly loud show playing in the background, they smiled at one another. Nothing overly salacious had happened the night previous; they had kissed _a lot_ and there had been some heavy petting, but neither of them was naked. Yes, okay, neither of them was wearing a shirt, and Nathan may have been down to his shorts, but that was it.

 

 

Which, considering Nathan, was astounding.

 

 

“Mmm... Morning...” Nathan greeted, yawning widely and stretching his arms over his head.

 

 

Simon murmured quietly, burrowing into Nathan’s bare chest. “So it wasn’t a dream.”

 

 

“Definitely not.” Nathan assured, stroking his fingers down Simon’s spine, paying extra special attention to the raised bit of scarred flesh. Dragging his thumb over the spot in an almost reverent manner until Simon shivered.

 

 

“Tickles.”

 

 

“I have a glorious idea.” Nathan admitted, pressing soft kisses to Simon’s shoulder and neck. “You and me and a bathtub. Together. What do you say?”

 

 

Simon inhaled sharply, nosing against Nathan’s collarbone as he wiggled against the other boy. “Depends on what happens in the tub.”

 

 

“What happens in every bathtub complete with bubbles. Silliness and soap in the eyes.”

 

 

Simon rolled himself onto his back to look up at Nathan, who was peering down at him, for all intents and purposes, innocently. “No sex?”

 

 

“Not until you’re ready.”

 

 

Simon pondered it. It was odd, how considerate Nathan was being with him. Simon had been confused over it, until the word love passed Nathan’s lips before he fell asleep. Simon was shocked, of course, and a little concerned. Then he thought about it - he had saved Nathan’s life; he and Nathan had been everything to one another. It made sense.

 

 

“Alright. Bath, then breakfast.”

 

 

“Right, I’ll go draw it.”

 

 

Simon rolled onto his stomach and watched as Nathan climbed off the sofa bed and stretched before heading to the bathroom. “Darth Vader is the bubble bath.”

 

 

Nathan’s laughter made his nervousness melt.

 

 

~*~

 

 

“Y’know...” Nathan started, hands rubbing down Simon’s shoulders and arms. “We were both idiots not to do this sooner.”

 

 

Simon slid down in the bathtub a little, watching the water slosh against the sides. “Because we both were so open about our feelings to one another.”

 

 

“Well, I thought I was being obvious, with all my teasing.”

 

 

“I’d never really had friends before. How was I supposed to know. I thought you hated me.”

 

 

Nathan was silent as he wrung the sponge out and slid it along Simon’s shoulders and down his chest in slow circles. “I didn’t mean to. I’ve never been good with people.”

 

 

“Well... We’re here now.” Simon tilted his head back against Nathan’s slick chest and peered up at Nathan’s face, smiling a little at the sight of Nathan’s hair wet and plastered to his cheeks, forehead and neck. “Right?”

 

 

Nathan’s arms and legs went about Simon’s body like an octopus as he held the other close and pressed his mouth to Simon’s in an upside down kiss. “Right.”

 

 

~*~

 

 

The weekend had gone on lazily, and slowly. They spent Saturday curled up in Simon’s room watching Simon’s newly purchased Battlestar Galatica boxset. Nathan had cooked curry, which turned out to be surprisingly delicious. They thought about inviting Kelly over to join them when Nathan had talked Simon into watching a marathon of horror movies. Well... The four that Simon owned, anyway.

 

 

Sunday they went back to the community centre. Simon brought his laptop and they managed to hack into the wireless internet and watch things online. Then Sunday night they took a shower in the locker room and Nathan may have pinned Simon to the wall and given him a blowjob. Simon may have reciprocated. Twice.

 

 

Then Nathan texted Kelly about it.

 

 

Then she called him back and screamed at him about how much of a wanker he was until Simon took the phone and assured her that he was of his own sound mind; there were no tattoos involved; and that Nathan wasn’t lying.

 

 

Fifteen minutes later Kelly showed up with kebobs demanding to know everything.

 

 

Simon and Nathan had fallen asleep, Nathan’s arm around Simon’s waist. Kelly grinned and covered them before wrapping herself in her sleeping bag and fell asleep listening to Nathan’s iPod playing softly in the background.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Alisha rounded the corner to her locker, barely even noticing another, new presence in the locker room because her eyes went straight to Simon and Nathan. Who were snogging. Loudly. Against the lockers.

 

 

Kelly was watching them with an annoyed but bemused expression as she was changing into her orange jumpsuit. “Fifteen minutes, now, ya. Don’ yous need to breathe?”

 

 

In response one of Nathan’s hands unclenched itself from Simon’s hip and shot a middle finger in Kelly’s direction.

 

“Are they... is Nathan...” Alisha trailed off, finally noticing the new person staring at himself in the mirror so she pointed to her shoulder. Where the tattoo had once been on Nathan.

 

“Nah. They ’splained it all to me las’ nigh’.” Kelly zipped up her suit and quickly explained the situation with Nathan and Simon and the bone marrow transplant.

 

“Oh.” Alisha nodded dumbly. Her eyes fixated on them as they broke apart, finally coming up for air. Her Simon hadn’t mentioned anything with Nathan. His eyes were only for her. And she hadn’t noticed a scar like Kelly mentioned. At all.

 

“Whose the new guy?”

 

Alisha shook herself from her stupor and looked to Shaun.

 

“What’s your name again..?”

 

The new guy smiled. “Ollie.”

 

As everyone else got ready, Alisha’s eyes fixated on Simon and Nathan. She watched as Nathan changed, her eyes drawn to the scar on his lower back before her gaze flickered to Simon, and saw a scar in the exact same place.

 

A scar she was sure her Simon didn’t have.

 

She hurriedly dressed as they headed out, Nathan’s arm slung round Simon’s shoulder and smiled after them. She rushed to congratulate them even if her mind was clouded in confusion.


End file.
